A friend online worked with this man in North Carolina, USA, and
has posted his obit. I think it might be of interest to anyone who
has benefited from the work he did in the field of autism as he
inspired a shift in outlook.

http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/458599.html
Published: Jul 08, 2006 12:30 AM
Modified: Jul 08, 2006 06:14 AM

WHAT IS AUTISM?
Diagnoses of autism are rising in the United States, with three to
six new cases for every 1,000 children born here, says the
National Institute of Mental Health.

Autism is a complex neuropsychiatric syndrome. Symptoms vary
from person to person, with degrees of impairment in
communication and social skills common. Some people with
autism practice repetitive behaviors, such as spinning.

Some autistic children and adults function at high levels. Other
live with serious impairments in thinking and language. A portion
never speak.

Modern treatment of autism, among other things, shows parents
ways to communicate that don't always depend on written or
spoken words, including the use of pictures. Children with
autism also are taught to see social cues they don't easily
recognize.

Autism trailblazer Schopler dies at 79
He inspired shift in field's outlook

Catherine Clabby, Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL - Eric Schopler, an international pioneer in the
humane and effective treatment of autism, died from cancer
Friday at age 79.

Forty-one years ago, the UNC-Chapel Hill psychologist
co-founded a program that rejected the notion that destructive
parents caused autism. Instead, he recognized autism as a
brain disorder -- one that could be managed.

He observed that people living with autism did not learn in
traditional ways but were capable of learning, especially with
customized interventions from therapists, family and teachers.

Those insights led to the development of Division TEACCH --
Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related
Communication-Handicapped Children -- a network of nine
state-funded clinics that are still operating. To this day, families
stream to North Carolina to enroll in the TEACCH programs,
which have inspired autism therapy programs in countries
throughout the world.

"He influenced tens of thousands of people," said Catherine
Lord, a prominent University of Michigan psychologist who
worked with Schopler in Chapel Hill early in her career.

"Not only did he develop treatment, he had this understanding
about what autism is and how it could be treated in the family
and broader context of the community and in the schools. That
was unique," Lord said.

The child of German parents forced to flee Hitler in the 1930s,
Schopler was deeply motivated by injustice, friends and family
said Friday. He saw stark unfairness while training in psychology
at the University of Chicago with the Freudian psychoanalyst
Bruno Bettelheim, who compared the parents of autistic children
to concentration camp guards.

But while working with those families, Schopler saw instead
caring people who frequently raised normal children in the same
household. As a young professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, he and
child psychiatrist Robert Reichler started a research project that
described autism as a brain disorder, not an emotional problem,
and developed strategies to help parents accommodate their
child's disabilities.

"It was very courageous of him. He came as an assistant
professor and took on the whole establishment in his
department as well as the whole country," said Gary Mesibov,
who took over as executive director at TEACCH after Schopler
retired from that post in 1993.

When the federal grant that Schopler and Reichler used to start
their research dried up, families who had benefited from their
help lobbied the North Carolina legislature to fund and expand
the program. It did so in 1971.

'Father of it all'

Betty Camp's son, Norman, was among Schopler's first patients
in the 1960s. At age 7, the boy did not speak. He attended
preschool but didn't play with other children. Even at home, he
preferred to be alone.

After two years of work at home with his parents, with Schopler
and others at TEACCH, Norman started connecting with others a
little, though he never spoke. He could attend public school,
Camp said, only because TEACCH trained teachers to work with
autistic children. Today, at age 45, Norman Camp lives at home
and has a job putting together electric meter components.

"I have nightmares about what would have happened if we had
not met," said Betty Camp, one of the parents who lobbied for
state funding to continue TEACCH. "He will be remembered as
the father of it all."

Country gent

A gentleman farmer who lived with his second wife, Margaret, in
the country outside Mebane, Schopler raised beeffalo, ducks,
chicken and sheep. He was not caught up in appearances.
Colleagues say he would sometimes arrive on campus with
mud on his clothes collected during chores at home. Several
remember seeing socks through holes in his shoes.

Schopler kept working in the autism field after releasing
TEACCH's helm at age 65, Mesibov said. A
soon-to-be-published book will include the refinement of a
diagnostic strategy for autistic adolescents and adults that
Schopler finished recently.

In addition to his wife, Schopler is survived by two sons, Bobby
and Tom, and one daughter, Susie, all living in or near Chapel
Hill. He is also survived by seven grandchildren.

Schopler was surrounded by family at his home when he died
Friday from esophageal cancer. Family members intend to hold
a public memorial service in his memory in September, though
details weren't firm Friday.

If anyone wishes to make a donation in Schopler's name, his
family asks that three causes be considered: the Eric Schopler
Endowed Chair for Autism Research at UNC-Chapel Hill, the
Piedmont Wildlife Center and Friends of the Tarheel Angels,
which helps children with cancer.

(Staff writer Jean Fisher contributed to this story.)
Staff writer Catherine Clabby can be reached at 956-2414 or
cclabby@...